Sure Your Program is Perfect?

I have a sort of reputation at work. Give me some new software to play with and I'll find the kinks, the bugs, the glitches for you. I will work your program to the ground and leave you wishing you hadn't asked me to try it out. Yes, I'm currently working on finding Windows 7's issues. Maybe I'll post something later to help you out.

I didn't plan on helping the DMV find a problem with their system today.

Sunday morning, as I was driving to my friends' babies' blessings (Mr & Mrs Avenues and their twins), I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I realized my car is now 2 years old, and I was supposed to renew the registration in October. Sunday was the first day of November. So when I parked my car on the street, I backed right up to the car behind me, so as to hide my license plate.

It's not like me to not renew my car. Over the 17 years that I've lived away from home and been responsible for my own cars' registrations, I get the renewal in the mail, I go get my safety and emissions tests done (depending on the year), I renew online and wait for my next year's sticker.

This year, no renewal notice in the mail?

So Monday night, I went to Jiffy Lube, coupon in hand, and had my safety and emissions test done. Passed! Jiffy Lube was even able to do the registration renewal there even without a renewal notice. I was tired, didn't want to wake early the next morning to go to the DMV, and I was afraid a cop would nail me for expired tags - so I was willing to pay the $10 they charge.

Problem: my plate number and VIN weren't pulling up in their system. Not sure why, but they couldn't do it.

This morning I woke early and drove to the DMV to renew my plates - I was kind of excited to use their drive up window.

Problem: my tags were already renewed last May. But I didn't renew them. Why would I renew them 5 months early? The guy at the window wasn't willing to look into it, but would give me a sticker for my car. Isn't that a little dishonest?

Long story short: I went into the DMV and started to unravel the issue. There is a problem with the DMV's system. Somehow, when someone - 2 hours later they had yet to find out who - renewed their registration in May, the DMV employee somehow entered both my license plate number and my VIN and renewed my registration instead of theirs. They gave them the year tag and that was the end of it... until my car really was up for renewal, but showed renewed so didn't send me a renewal notice.

I now have my 2010 tag on my car, but that was the longest renewal I've ever had to wait through. I'm just ever so happy to help the DMV find an glitch with their software.

The moral to the story is: Make sure when you renew your car's registration that they are indeed renewing YOUR car's registration.